I have decided to start a new study topic for you guys. This one is is going to be on hand reading and using Jonathan's grouping method to make you better at hand reading.
First some rules about hand reading:
1) Hand reading is about putting your opponent on a a range of hands, not a single hand. "You have AK." When ever I hear that from someone, I automatically make a mental note they are a hand reading fish. You should be thinking of all of the possibilities of hands they can have and not just the most likely candidates.
2) Start from a preflop range. With unknown players, I start with ranges they are expected have. Once you have reads, you will deviate from the expectation to start fine tuning your ranges.
3) As the hand moves on their range gets smaller. If they call preflop and check/call the flop and you eliminate AA/KK due to the pattern, they cannot have AA/KK on the turn if those hands are already eliminated.
4) Unexpected aggression may indicate you need to go back to the beginning and re-build their range. More on this later.
My method of hand reading starts with categorization first. Think of the category of hands his betting pattern indicates and then determine which hands fit into that category.
There are 3 basic categories:
Premium Made Hands;
Marginal Made Hands; and
Draws/Junk/Bluffs/Air.
I lump draws and junk together into one grouping here as for hand reading. As you read on you will see why this is the case.
Hand reading is about eliminating hands from the range. What hands make sense to eliminate from my opponent's range? So your first goal of any hand is to properly eliminate one of the categories. Against balanced opponent's it is usually impossible to eliminate more than one. But as we move on in this topic, you may see examples of players who are unbalanced and then you can eliminate 2 categories from their range.
First some rules about hand reading:
1) Hand reading is about putting your opponent on a a range of hands, not a single hand. "You have AK." When ever I hear that from someone, I automatically make a mental note they are a hand reading fish. You should be thinking of all of the possibilities of hands they can have and not just the most likely candidates.
2) Start from a preflop range. With unknown players, I start with ranges they are expected have. Once you have reads, you will deviate from the expectation to start fine tuning your ranges.
3) As the hand moves on their range gets smaller. If they call preflop and check/call the flop and you eliminate AA/KK due to the pattern, they cannot have AA/KK on the turn if those hands are already eliminated.
4) Unexpected aggression may indicate you need to go back to the beginning and re-build their range. More on this later.
My method of hand reading starts with categorization first. Think of the category of hands his betting pattern indicates and then determine which hands fit into that category.
There are 3 basic categories:
Premium Made Hands;
Marginal Made Hands; and
Draws/Junk/Bluffs/Air.
I lump draws and junk together into one grouping here as for hand reading. As you read on you will see why this is the case.
Hand reading is about eliminating hands from the range. What hands make sense to eliminate from my opponent's range? So your first goal of any hand is to properly eliminate one of the categories. Against balanced opponent's it is usually impossible to eliminate more than one. But as we move on in this topic, you may see examples of players who are unbalanced and then you can eliminate 2 categories from their range.
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